Director Ronny Yu (FREDDY VS. JASON) has optioned rights to the anime movie BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE for a live-action feature, according to SCI FI WIRE. The original 2000 movie directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo concerns a vampire hunter on a military base.
VES Awards 2004Hollywood, California, USAFebruary 18, 2004Deadline: December 1, 2003
The Visual Effects Society (VES) is taking submissions for the 2004 VES Awards. Participants can submit their entry forms for any one of the 23 categories through the VES Awards online submission site at www.vesawards.com. The 2nd annual event will be held on February 18, 2003 at the Hollywood Palladium. The deadline for submission is December 1, 2003. For the first time, a special Lifetime Achievement Award will be given.
Renn Prod. and producer Claude Berri have scrapped plans to produce a third live-action feature in the ASTERIX franchise, reported the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. ASTERIX AND OBELIX IN SPAIN had been scheduled to start shooting next spring in Spain. Director Gerard Jugnot (MONSIEUR BATIGNOLLE) had been assigning directing duties and Christian Clavier and Gerard Depardieu were set to reprise their roles.
Weta Digital has landed work on both the KING KONG remake and THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE feature. Head of Weta Peter Jackson has inked a deal with Universal to bring his version of the giant ape tale to the screen, reported DAILY VARIETY. The deal is worth $20 million and 20% of the gross to Jackson for his writing and directing duties, which he will split with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens who also helped the Oscar-nominated director pen the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Welsh is set to produce the KONG redux.
R!OT Santa Monica provided color correction, vfx and animation for a Hoover spot in which a vacuum cleaner undertakes the monumental task of cleaning up Monument Valley, Utah, best known as the location of the John Ford westerns.
Moneyshots (www.moneyshotspost.com), a full-service visual effects design studio in Santa Monica, California, recently completed online work for TRAINING CAMP, part of Reebok's "Terry Tate: Office Line-Backer" campaign. The :30 spot features Tate going through his daily conditioning paces sporting Reebok's "Scrimmage" cross-trainer athletic shoe.
Moneyshots created all the logographics and taglines as well as provided cosmetic background treatment such as digitally replacing walls that were removed for on-set camera access and floor "clean-up," using Flame.
Mike Newell (the upcoming MONA LISA SMILE and FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) will direct HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, the fourth movie in the blockbuster fantasy series based on the phenomenal best sellers by J.K. Rowling, and the first to be helmed by a Brit, according to a Warner Bros. Pictures announcement. Production is scheduled to begin in England in April, 2004 for a holiday 2005 release, with David Heyman producing and Steve Kloves scripting.
Visual effects house Guava has been enlisted by Radio City Entertainment to bring legendary singer/actor Frank Sinatra back to the Radio City Music hall stage in a multi-media event entitled SINATRA: HIS VOICE. HIS WORLD. HIS WAY. This project is the first time that Sinatra Enterprises has approved the exclusive and unrestricted use of Sinatra footage to a single entity outside the family. The stage show was constructed from never-before-seen video footage and home videos as well as 35mm images from classic television and film appearances.
The 5th Annual Scriptapalooza Screenwriting contest announced its quarter and semi-finalists on August 7, 2003. Out of 2,947 entries, the panel of industry judges whittled down the list to 126 semi-finalists with 321 making the quarter finals list. Sponsors of the contest include Screenwriting Expo, Screenplay.com, Ink Tip and FILMMAKER MAGAZINE.
Nevercenter Ltd. Co. announced the upcoming release of its new subdivision surfaces modeler, Silo. Expanding the subdivision surfaces paradigm to new levels, Silo combines several new modeling methods with established tools in an interface that is fully customizable. In addition, Silo features a workflow based on speed and ease of use. Silo will go on sale later in August 2003 at www.nevercenter.com.
GenArts Inc. has just released Sapphire Plug-ins for burn, Discreet's new Linux-based background rendering software. With the new version of Sapphire Plug-ins, inferno, flame and flint artists will be able to use burn to process projects faster, increasing productivity and maximizing creative time.
In a move that looks like it wants to recapture the success of its HARRY POTTER franchise, Warner Bros. Pictures has optioned Phillip Ardaghs childrens trilogy of books, featuring the main character Eddie Dickens, reported DAILY VARIETY. Scribe Matthew Huffman (ME AND MY MONSTER) has been tapped to write the screenplay for the first book, A HOUSE CALLED AWFUL END. The story follows an 11-year-old British boy, who goes to live with his Mad Uncle Jack and Mad Aunt Maud when his parents get sick and ends up in the St. Horrid's Home for Grateful Orphans.
For the upcoming feature FREDDY VS. JASON, Freddy vs. Jason Prod used Eyetronics mobile scanning services. The filmmakers chose the technology so they could increase the quality of the visual effects and meet their goals within their tight 10-week production schedule.
G4, the Comcast-owned TV network about video games and the gamer lifestyle, announced the winners of its first video game Glow Awards July 30, 2003 at G-Phoria, the network's location-based and televised mega-event held at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, celebrating the massive phenomenon of video games. Presented by EB Games and Jeep, the show was hosted by actor/comedian Jamie Kennedy, who announced awards in key categories. A 90-minute special taped at G-Phoria airs on G4 August 8 at 8:00 pm.
The Ben Affleck superhero actioner, DAREDEVIL, based on the Marvel comic book, comes to DVD (Fox Home Entertainment, $29.98) armed with more features than fearless protagonist Matt Murdock. Among them is an hour-long collection of interviews with people that worked on the comic, including creator Stan Lee, Frank Miller and director Kevin Smith.
Maxon Computers announced the release of BodyPaint 3D Release 2, which included development aid from Sony Pictures Imageworks. The new version includes fast and easy-to-use tools for distortion free painting and Projection Painting, which allows textures to be painted onto a 3D model without UV seams appearing. Used in conjunction with RayBrush mode, users can create perfectly mapped textures and view results in realtime.
At SIGGRAPH 2003, BOXX Technologies announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Discreet to offer 3ds max with its XXtreme series of 3DBOXX workstations. In addition, the company announced the release of CineBOXX [review], the first component in the CineBOXX series of digital intermediate systems for real-time playback of 2K DPX and Cineon files at 24fps, as well as an upgrade to its HD editing and compositing system, HDBOXX.
TroubleMaker Studios and Janimation animators used AMD processors with hardware support from BOXX and NVIDIA, as well as software from Microsoft and Softimage on SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER. The third installment of Robert Rodriguez' highly successful family franchise features stereoscopic elements enhanced with 3D glasses.
R!OT Santa Monica created a massive and richly detailed digital replica of 19th Century London as part of its VFX package for Fox's new THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. The R!OT team also concocted a roomful of missile silos inside a giant submarine, impaled a man on a rhinoceros horn and came up with a unique way of visualizing the voices on an old phonograph recording.
Turbo Squid has announced the certification and release of cgCharacters Absolute Character Tools (ACT) 1.6 Pro as a Discreet Certified 3ds max Plug-in. ACT is a fast and stable production platform that offers a wide array of character modeling and animation features. In addition to cgMuscle objects, ACT also includes tools and objects (cgTubes) to create skinned proxy characters that deform and animate in realtime.
DKP Effects recently partnered with Rhino Home Video and Warner Strategic Marketing to bring a new interactivity to the booming DVD format: DVDn. The first title, SCOURGE OF WORLDS: A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ADVENTURE ($24.95), released earlier this summer, is intended to be a true hybrid of features and gaming.
SPEC's Graphics Performance Characterization (SPEC/GPC) group has launched a new program that gives non-members of the organization access to its benchmarking review and publication processes. SPEC/GPC's SPECviewperf and SPECapc application-based benchmarks are considered worldwide standards for objective performance measurement. SPECviewperf offers direct performance comparisons of graphics hardware running datasets from popular CAD/CAM, digital content creation and visualization applications.
As a way of promoting the release of SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER on July 25, 2003, Discovery Kids on NBC will be airing a special kids edition of the TLC TV series TRADING SPACES, featuring SPY KIDS stars Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara. Hitting the airwaves Saturday, July 19 from 11:00-11:30 am (ET)/9:00 -9:30 AM (PT), BOYS VS. GIRLS has Alexa joining 13-year-old Kali as she turns her brothers room into a spy-training obstacle course, featuring monkey bars, tire steps and a climbing wall. Daryl will team with Eli to change Kalis bedroom into a retro soda shop.
R!OT Santa Monica produced more than a dozen complex VFX shots for Warner Bros. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (produced by C2/Intermedia), including several highly detailed 3D digital matte paintings. Specializing in creating realistic virtual environments, artists from the studio's feature film unit created a remote desert military facility, a cavernous elevator shaft, a warehouse filled with robotic weapons, aerial scenes and other hard to replicate locations.
